Phoenix was standing on the front steps with his hands in his pockets, watching wolves move around him with the focused calm of someone who had done this many times before. My heart did something entirely unhelpful at the sight of him. He was in nothing but loose shorts, bare from the torso down and feet on the stone, looking completely unbothered by it. Strong and composed in a way that was almost unfair at this hour of the morning.
His eyes found me as I approached and the hard set of his face gave way to a smile that I was still not used to seeing. I gave him a small one back as he came to meet me halfway.
"Where did you go?" he asked.
I stopped at his feet and turned the fabric of the bag in my hands. "I went to see Kate."
His nostrils flared and his frown appeared immediately. "Why? Are you alright? Is something wrong?"
I chuckled. "I am fine. I may have asked her to take my blood."
His eyebrows went up. "You did what?"
